Improvement in photographic pictures



' s; E. coNANT:

Photographic-Pictures.

N0.l53,1"58. Parented1uxy21,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT 'OEEIcr-io vSAMUEL F. CONANT, OF SKOWHEGAN, MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 53,158, dated July 2l, 1874; application filed March 1l, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, SAMUEL F. CoNANT', of Skowhegan, in the county of Somerset, State of Maine, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Photographic Pictures, of which the following is a description sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view, showing two styles of my improved photographic picture. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the picture B, Fig. l and Fig. 3, a vertical section of the picture B', Fig. l.

Like letters refer to like parts in the different gures of the drawing.

My invention relates more especially to pictures formed on glass by the photographic process, and consists in a novel method of iinishing and preserving the same, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, by which pictures of a finer tone and greater durability are produced than have heretofore been made.

The extreme simplicityT of my invention renders an elaborate description unnecessary.

In Fig. l, A is the case; B, a sealed or cemented picture, and B an unsealed one. In Fig. 2, B is the glass on which the photographic impression is made; C, the cement, and D the backing. In Fig. 3, B is the picture-glass; C, the cement, and E the ledge. To make the improved picture B, or after the style shown in Fig. 1, I iirst photograph a negative of the object; that is to say, I make a transparent positive on glass, and develop and fix it in the usual manner. If it is a portrait, the cheeks and lips are stippled with red, and the eyes' and other parts colored with water-colors mixed in albumen so as to dry rapidly. Oil-colors are then applied in a thick mass, making every part of the portrait as opaque as possible. After the oil-colors dry, a cement consisting of a thick coating of pure white lead and oil is applied, and the picture sealed up by using the glass backing D,which is placed directly in contact with the white lead and oil coating C, the two glasses being secured together by an ordinary preserver until the paint dries permanently, the glass D being to protect the picture from injury while that takes place. The picture B', or the style shown in Fig. 3, is made in the-same manner, except that a coating of paint is applied sufficiently thick to serve for a backing, the glass backing being dispensed with, and a ledge, E E, used. This ledge extends entirely around the picture, and consists of a narrow strip of wood embedded in the paint C, near the edge of the plate B. The ledge is to prevent the paint C from coming into contact with the case, so that a picture may be immediately backed with wood or pasteboard, and cased without injury while the paint is yet green, the ledge becoming firmly attached to the plate when the paint sets. The ledge is not required when there is sufficient time for the paint to dry properly, as the paint itself then furnishesa perfect backing.

It will be understood that any ordinary pigment may be used in the paint to give color to the ground-work of the picture.

Transparencies are sometimes backed with board or paper, giving them the dull, lifeless look of a .paper photograph when nished. This is obviated in my improved picture, in which the oil paint mixes or blends with the lm on which the impression is taken, imparting a life-like appearance, and giving a tone and nish to the picture which can be obtained by no other process with which I am acquainted.

I do not confine myself to the use of white lead and oil, as zinc or Florence white may be used instead of the white lead without departing lfrom the spirit of my invention, and the picture may also be impressed upon the glass by contact printing, instead of the photographic process.

I am aware that pictures and photographic pictures have been made and sealed between two glasses by means of balsamum Omzadensis and similar articles; but my invention is essentially dii'erent from such a picture, and I therefore do not claim the same when in and of itself considered; but

What I claim is- 1. The picture described, consisting of a transparent positive, finished and provided with a backing of white lead and oil, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

B and D by ineans of the White lead and oil cement G, substantially as and for the purpose SAMUEL F. CONANT.

litnesses W. H. FULLER, HENRY LEAVITT. 

